Robot Guidance Counselors?

[Annie]

Sounds like a very good idea to me:

Meet Mr. Robot, Your New Guidance Counselor | Via Meadia

July 20, 2012
Meet Mr. Robot, Your New Guidance Counselor

At a time when American higher education is facing perhaps the gravest crisis in its history, it seems like every passing week brings a new idea or new advance in technology with the potential to change things for the better. Via Meadia has extensively discussed the rise of online education and distance learning. Now the New York Times is featuring another innovation: online guidance counselors.

A small number of schools around the country—the University of Arizona and Austin Peay State University in Tennessee being most prominent among them—are now experimenting with new ways to use data mining to help track the performance of their students and guide them towards the majors and courses that suit them best. Although the two systems use slightly different methods and technology, the core principle is the same: by tracking students’ grades, course history, and use of online learning materials, a computer can determine when a student is in danger of falling behind and suggest steps to get him or her back on track. The hope is that this will decrease the number of students who drop out or spend additional years in college because of a switch in majors:

For example, to succeed in psychology, a student must perform well in statistics.

“Kids who major in psych put that off, because they don’t want to take statistics,” Ms. Capaldi says. “They want to know: Does their boyfriend love them? Are they nuts? They take all those courses, then they hit statistics and they say: ‘Oh, God, I can’t do this. I can’t do experimental design.’ And so they’re in the wrong major. By putting those courses first, you can see if a student is going to succeed in that major early.” Arizona State’s retention rate rose to 84 percent from 77 percent in recent years, a change Ms. Capaldi credits largely to eAdvisor.

This is no small matter. As the Times points out, only 31 percent of public school students graduate in the normal four-year time frame, and only 56 percent graduate within six. Those extra years represent an enormously costly misstep, and those who drop out receive essentially no benefit, in terms of credentials. New data technologies like eAdvisor have the potential to help colleges keep costs down without requiring them to hire expensive new personnel.

Of course, a little common sense and some parental advice might also work wonders.

 

[ScienceRocks]

The way our educational system is going maybe we need robot teachers too. Ones that bolt the door and beat the idiots when they're not following along.

I'm not kidding.

That is my plan b for my plan posted on another thread. Which centers around paying the teacher a reward for producing results and firing for not.

 

[onecut39]

The way our educational system is going maybe we need robot teachers too. Ones that bolt the door and beat the idiots when they're not following along.

I'm not kidding.

That is my plan b for my plan posted on another thread. Which centers around paying the teacher a reward for producing results and firing for not.

Now take your time and tell me exactly what criteria you would use in evaluating a teacher. I am not being argumentative. What "results" are we talking about? I simply want to know how you would distinguish a good teacher from a bad one.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Well, that would have to be figured out in the future...

A good guess is to set up a system of scale based on performance. Let's say the Avg teacher passes around 70% of his/her class? (70 percent based on a number picked out of the air) Of course this number would have to be adjusted for different environments; let's say in the center of a black area one high's school is passes at around 30%. The Avg would be centered at around that number to start with and hopefully with time would increase as results improve(some standard would have to be made).

-A teacher that performed at the Avg for the "area" would keep their pay and benefits.
-Any teacher that increased performance by 10% would get an 5-10% pay raise.

Any teacher within the black community school passing only 15% of his or her students would be fired. Same in an area that passes 70% that passes around 35%. We don't need these teachers within our educational system. Such standards will likely have to be figured at in the future, but I'd say about 50 percent of Avg to start the discussion.

Maybe in poor area's with high welfare, I'd aim a benefit program at poor parents that rewards parents helping their childern to pass. If a marked increase could be shown then they would receive a 5% increase in their food stamps, ssd, welfare, etc.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Robot Health Care Counselors aren't far behind.

Most likely programmed to tell you that you won't get that life saving operation while the bureaucrat that programmed it (Probably USMB Poster GreenBeard) hides behind a desk somewhere.

Patient: "I have this pain in my shoulder..."
Robot Counselor: "You. Will. Die".